A Pemex Internacional tanker arrives this Friday, July 17, at the Yokkaichi refinery in central Japan with one million barrels of Mexican crude oil. It is the first significant Pemex shipment to that destination since 2023 and responds to Japan's urgent need to diversify supply sources following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The operation was agreed upon in a phone call on April 20, 2026, between President Claudia Sheinbaum and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, and publicly confirmed three days later, as reported by El Financiero. Japan, the world's seventh-largest oil consumer at 3.14 million barrels per day, imports 97 percent of the crude it consumes, and 95 percent of those imports come from the Middle East, according to data from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) reported by Reuters. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of global oil consumption transits, left the Japanese economy in a position of extreme vulnerability. Faced with this scenario, the Japanese government activated diplomatic channels to secure alternative cargoes.
The cargo was transported by a single vessel and will be distributed between the Yokkaichi and Chiba refineries, the latter near Tokyo, operated by Cosmo Oil, a subsidiary of Cosmo Energy, according to Energía a Debate. To avoid the conflict zone, the vessel sailed around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, extending the voyage by 10 to 15 days compared to the usual route through the Suez Canal. Mexico produces approximately 1.65 million barrels per day, of which around 1.4 million are processed in the National Refining System, according to the most recent data reported by El Financiero. The exportable surplus is around 400,000 to 500,000 barrels per day, primarily destined for the United States.
The one million barrels cover barely a third of Japan's daily consumption, but the shipment marks Mexico's entry into an Asian market where it had only a marginal presence until now: in all of 2025, Mexico exported just 2.3 million dollars in petroleum products to Japan, according to the Bank of Mexico. METI confirmed the cargo's arrival for this Friday.
This article was drafted with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.